By The Public Communications Office
In this episode of “What’s Up, College Station?” Marketing Coordinator Grace Hallowell and Code Enforcement Supervisor Tommy Shilling offer sound advice to arriving students (and the rest of us) on avoiding code violations. They talk a bit about Aggie football gameday parking, too.
Transcript
Grace Hallowell:
What’s up College Station? I’m Grace Hallowell and today I’m joined with Tommy Shilling, our Code Enforcement Supervisor. Hi Tommy.
Tommy Shilling:
Hi. Thanks for having me.
Grace Hallowell:
You’re welcome. It doesn’t feel like it outside with the heat, but we are sliding into fall and that means back to school and students coming back to campus. So today we’re here to talk about some common things that you guys see over in Code Enforcement in regard to the students moving back in and how to prevent those things from happening.
Tommy Shilling:
Yes ma’am. So right now, it’s move in, move out season, and I’m here today to tell you a couple of the top code violations that we see. The first one is going to be bulky trash. We’re starting to see a lot of residents and owners putting tires out and household hazardous waste in bags. Sanitation will not collect those items. The trash bags must be in a receptacle and the tires you can take to the landfill or a local discount tire place for a small fee.
The second one’s going to be trash cans. Usually, you have 48 hours to put your trash can out before it gets collected, and then you have 12 hours after collection to get it removed from the curb. We’re starting to see a lot of cans left out throughout the week, so you’re going to get a phone call or email or an in-person contact with us, so get those removed as well.
Also, if the residents can download the College Station curbside app, it’s a good tool to be able to look at your collection days, your bulk days, and your recycle days. You can set up an alert, to let you know, “Hey, it’s my trash can day,” and you can get those items put out. It’s a good app.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes, the app is great. It also tells you holiday schedules. So winter break, spring break, things like that, you know when your trash is going so you can put it out.
Tommy Shilling:
Yes, because most people believe that the city shuts down. That’s not necessarily true. Sanitation’s always running.
Grace Hallowell:
Right.
Tommy Shilling:
So definitely download that app. It’s a great avenue for residents of College Station to have for sure. The third one’s going to be accumulation of trash and that kind of goes back into the sanitation part. Say if you don’t get your can out at the appropriate time, call sanitation at 979.764.3690 and you can get a pickup request. They’ll do a missed list, and the trucks will run by and pick up those items, just in case if you do miss that collection.
The fourth one’s going to be open storage. This is a fun one because a lot of people don’t understand what open storage means. So, it’s usually where a couch is being stored outside or refrigerators or any open items. Some of the things that we’ve seen is a couch on the roof. I understand y’all want to look at stars and have fun out there, I get it; you’re college students. But you cannot have a couch on the roof. So, if you don’t get it removed, we will be in contact with you.
Grace Hallowell:
Right, or on your porch.
Tommy Shilling:
Yes, on your porch as well.
Grace Hallowell:
Any indoor furniture, keep inside. Outdoor furniture is okay.
Tommy Shilling:
Yes. It’s very important. Indoor use, keep it inside.
Grace Hallowell:
Why is that? Why shouldn’t you have indoor furniture outside?
Tommy Shilling:
Well, because it depends on the material. So, one thing that we’ve run into is those couches, like say, they’re leather, they’re not meant to be outside. The rain produces varmints and stuff like that, so it can be torn up. It’s meant to be inside, so just keep it inside. The fifth one’s going to be weeds and grass.
I know we do have a drought right now, but this is one of our main ones that we’re seeing right now. The city ordinance is that it can’t be higher than 12 inches in throughout the majority of the yard. So, get it cut. I know it’s hot and I know it’s not really growing right now, but if it gets to there, you’re going to have a little knock on the door and we’re going to be like, “Hey, get your grass cut.”
The sixth one entails parking in the yard. So, like I said, we’ve already had a drought. I know you’re moving into these addresses, but please do not park these vehicles in your grass because it can start a grass fire, especially with how dead the grass is right now because of the heat.
Grace Hallowell:
Right. Very dangerous. Something you might not think is dangerous in the moment, but cars have very flammable material coming out of them, especially when it’s hot out.
Tommy Shilling:
Yes.
Grace Hallowell:
What else can you share?
Tommy Shilling:
Okay, so, with move in and move out in the fall, we also know that football season is coming around.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes, very exciting.
Tommy Shilling:
This year we’re doing a little something different. Code Enforcement’s has always assisted College Station Police Department with the parking enforcement during game day operations. So, this year we are spearheading that operation. Code Enforcement will be taking this over. That way, we can free up CSPD to handle other calls and situations throughout the City of College Station during game days.
It’s predominantly in the south side neighborhood right there by the stadium. Those streets are very narrow, and whenever we have parking issues, emergency vehicles, mail trucks, anything like that cannot get down those streets. So, what we do is we proactively check that area for prohibited parking, stop signs, fire hydrants, and if we do find people parking in those areas, we are going to remove the vehicle. So, it’s making it safer for the citizens of that area and the game goers.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. And you guys do a great job. I know whenever I’m out at the games, you guys are all over the place checking, making sure everything’s safe and open. What if somebody has a driveway and they don’t have a vehicle? Are they allowed to rent out parking spaces for game day?
Tommy Shilling:
No ma’am. No, you are not allowed to rent out spaces in the street because unfortunately the street belongs to the City of College Station and not the resident.
Grace Hallowell:
Right. So don’t do that.
Tommy Shilling:
Don’t do that. No.
Grace Hallowell:
All right. Some other things you see, stealing street signs. I know that’s a big one.
Tommy Shilling:
Yes ma’am. We’re starting to see a trend. It’s starting in Southside. Southside is one of the main contributors of stolen street signs. And then also the Barracks. The Barracks is number two. The City of College Station loses a lot of money on these signs because we have to put them back. It costs the Public Works Department money to replace these signs.
So, if you move into a house where they do have signs, call the City of College Station. Let us know. The Streets Department will come out and pick up those signs. They would rather have them picked up than we have to call the police department or write you citations. So just let us know and we’ll come out and pick them up. Grace Hallowell: Yes. Leave them alone. Even if they say a funny street name.
Tommy Shilling:
Yes. If it’s your last name, do not take it.
Grace Hallowell:
Take a picture, but don’t take the sign.
Tommy Shilling:
That’s right.
Grace Hallowell:
Okay. So, if anyone has questions about code or anything that you guys do, where can they learn more?
Tommy Shilling:
You can call Code Enforcement at 979.764.6363. You can email Code Enforcement as well. You can also report anything on SeeClickFix. That’s another app that’s extremely great for the residents or citizens of College Station.
If you see a potential code violation or even any questions that you may have, you can post. It has a GIS locator of the location of the violation. You can put comments, photos. Say it’s not a code issue, and it needs to go to a different department, I have it set up where it can route straight to that department, and they can respond accordingly. So that’s another great avenue for sure.
Grace Hallowell:
Yes. SeeClickFix.
Tommy Shilling: Yes.
Grace Hallowell:
And for anything else, they can go to cstx.gov/CodeEnforcement and all the information will be right there.
Tommy Shilling:
Yes ma’am.
Grace Hallowell:
All right, well thank you so much for joining me today.
Tommy Shilling:
All right, thank you for having me.
Grace Hallowell:
And that’s What’s Up.
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